


Clip-On Tie

by Night_Queen3927



Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Assault, Crying, During Canon, Family, Gen, Triggers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 07:20:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20004454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Night_Queen3927/pseuds/Night_Queen3927
Summary: What if Fujioka Haruhi didn't know how to tie a tie for Ouran High School?Fujioka Haruhi is stubborn and refuses to admit that she needs help learning how to tie a tie so she just buys a clip-on tie until she can take the time to learn how to properly tie a tie.This changes the way that Ayanokoji's interaction with Haruhi plays out.





	Clip-On Tie

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: This does mention assault based on stereotypes and misconceptions, mainly that boys shouldn't wear dresses/clothing that is typically female. It is not graphic, but I don't want anyone to be triggered. It is divided by a bolded line of dashes and has the words 'trigger start' and 'trigger end'.

With a father who crossdresses for his professional job, therefore who doesn’t wear ties to any formal events, Fujioka Haruhi logically would not know how to tie a tie the way that Ouran High requires. The rest of the club would already know how to tie their ties to the exacting standards of the school and being rich, wouldn’t think about the possibility of Haruhi not knowing the steps for tying a tie.

Haruhi, with her customary stubbornness, refused to admit to needing help or that she didn’t know how to do the tie. Instead, she went to a shop that sold clothing that was designed for men, including ties, and asked them for something that would mimic the knot without requiring her to do any tying. The shop came through for her, providing her with clip on ties that she could simply put on her uniform shirt and conceal anything amiss with her blazer. Haruhi’s plan went perfectly, no one commented on noticing anything wrong with the tie. The only one who might have noticed it was Kyoya, who was disinclined to mention anything because it had no impact on the profits and running of the host club.

Then Ayanokoji-hime requested to have a conversation with Haruhi, jealous of the attention that Tamaki was heaping upon his new Host Club member.

Ayanokoji was perfectly cordial during her conversation with Haruhi, none of her words were outright insulting or derogatory, yet she managed to slip in several crushing barbs regarding Haruhi’s commoner status and that soon Haruhi would be forgotten by Tamaki.

Haruhi hadn’t earned her place at Ouran for nothing, being a scholarship student, she had to be extremely intelligent and able to navigate the waters filled with social sharks, ready to consume her at the slightest hint of weakness. With the short conversation that Ayanokoji and Haruhi shared, Haruhi was able to determine why she had requested her and then started hurling cutting jibes at her status and future.

“I see. You’re jealous.” 

With that simple statement by Haruhi, Ayanokoji lost her mind. She snarled, her eyes flashing angrily. With the cold cunningness of her past, Ayanokoji devised a plan to discredit Haruhi in seconds.

Ayanokoji lunged forward tipping the table so that it would fall on its side and create a clatter. At the same time, she reached forward with a clawed hand to seize Haruhi’s black tie, planning to yank Haruhi down so that it looked like Haruhi was being aggressive towards her. Yet her royal background failed her in a single crucial aspect. Just like Tamaki, Ayanokoji assumed that Haruhi knew how to do up a tie because every male that she interacted with had perfectly tied ties. She couldn’t fathom the idea that Haruhi might not know how to tie a tie.

The clip-on tie that Haruhi was wearing gave out, not designed to stand up to a violent pull on it.

The situation was reversed from Ayanokoji’s plan. Instead of Haruhi landing on her in an indecent manner, she landed on Haruhi. Ayanokoji ended up sitting on Haruhi’s stomach, her face hovering bare inches from Haruhi’s face. 

Haruhi screamed, hating the fact that a girl that she didn’t know and didn’t like was so close to her. 

With the table falling had already caught everyone else’s attention and now the ear-splitting shriek pulled all the hosts towards Haruhi’s table, just like a magnet pulls metal objects to itself. 

The hosts and the girls had no background context, they only knew what they saw at that moment. They saw Ayanokoji sitting on Haruhi, close enough to kiss Haruhi’s lips with only a little effort. They saw Haruhi with brown eyes wide and pupils blown with terror, hands clawed against the floor as if they were just waiting for an opportune chance to scramble backwards and allow Haruhi get her back to the wall. 

The hosts pounced, just like big cats on their prey. Kaoru and Hikaru seized Ayanokoji by her arms and dragged her backwards off of Haruhi, dropping her unceremoniously in a disheveled heap at Tamaki’s feet. Mori swept in, pulling Haruhi off of the floor and into his arms, cradling her and shielding her from all the eyes. Honey scrambled up Mori, so that he could perch upon his shoulder and keep a careful eye on Haruhi. Kyoya stood at Tamaki’s should, glasses glinting as he pressed them up the bridge of his nose, notebook open to Ayankoji’s page

During the whole commotion, Haruhi remained still, eyes still terrified and shivering from fear. Once she was in Mori’s arms, Haruhi pressed her face into his chest, seeking some comfort from the darkness and the soothing embrace of the warm arms around her.

“Ayanokoji-hime, may I please know exactly what you were doing to poor Haruhi?” Tamaki asked, his voice still kind and sweet but with a core of steel in it. His eyes had turned cold because for all that Haruhi was still relatively new to their patchwork family, each and every one of the hosts valued her and was protective of her.

“I did nothing. That filthy commoner staged everything!” Ayanokoji said hysterically, her voice high-pitched, desperate to salvage her wrecked plan of discrediting Haruhi by posing as a victim and Haruhi as the aggressor. Since the scene didn’t play out as she expected, Ayanokoji was relying entirely on her words and the backing of her family’s name to push through her version. She wasn’t expecting any of the hosts to have any sort of fondness for Haruhi, only what Haruhi could bring to the club and so she thought that just the accusation would be enough to get Haruhi banned from the club and possibly expelled from Ouran entirely.

“I sincerely doubt that, Ayanokoji-san.” Kyoya interjected, his voice frosty. “If you take a look at Haruhi, ‘that filthy commoner’ as you have decided, you’ll notice that Haruhi doesn’t seem to be in any shape to have planned that incident.” Kyoya took a single menacing step forward. “In fact, Haruhi seems to have had an adverse reaction to it further implying that you were the one who orchestrated this.”

“Yes.” The red-headed twins chorused in unison, circling Ayanokoji just like a vulture circles a dying animal.

“Besides, we have the pleasure-” One twin spoke, eyes flashing.

“-of knowing who Haruhi is exactly, and believe-” The second twin continued the sentence, hair swaying with his motion.

“-us. Haruhi would never try something as uncouth as that.”

“Haruhi is too much of a gentleman to assault a-”

“-lady, even if she’s no lady at all. Haruhi respects-”

“-everyone too much to do anything that they don’t want to them.”

The twins started speaking in unison, creating an eerie echo. “So the question is, did you want to do that with Haruhi regardless of Haruhi’s desires or did you stage everything to ruin Haruhi’s reputation?”

Mori, who had remained silent until now, spoke up. “I do believe that this debacle can be laid squarely at your feet, Ayanokoji-hime. You didn’t seemed shocked at what had happened, which means you were expecting it to some degree. However, as you can see-” Mori shifted his arms a bit, clearly showing Haruhi who was still curled up in a ball in his arms and visibly trembling. “-Haruhi seems to have been shocked and terrified by the events that happened.”

“I think that we know enough now.” Tamaki said. He pushed a hand through his blond hair, raking it out of his face. “You are truly beautiful, Ayanokoji-hime. However, that beauty is only skin-deep. On the inside, you are not fit to be a part of our Host Club which is meant to celebrate the inner beauty of everyone.”

“Tamaki. You idiot!” With that Ayanokoji stood up, picking her skirts up and fled the music room in tears. 

Taking a deep breath, Tamaki turned to the other girls in the room, preparing to make an announcement. Before he could, Kyoya stepped in front of him, pushing him back every so slightly, signalling that he was taking over from here. Voice smooth as melted chocolate and laced with sympathy, Kyoya announced, “I’m terribly sorry, ladies, but I’m afraid that we’ll need to end this session early in order to take care of our newest host. I hope that this has not soured your view of our club and we invite all of you to rejoin us at your earliest convenience.” 

With that announcement, the girls started to slowly leave the room. Many of them stopped to ask one of the hosts to pass on their sympathies and wishes for a speedy recovery to Haruhi.

When all of the girls had left the room, all the hosts converged on Mori who had sat down with Haruhi nestled into his lap.

“Haruhi, we’re alone now. All of the girls are gone. Ayanokoji has been banished from the club.” Mori said, his voice low and soothing. 

Tamaki and the twins both exhibited unusual restraint, sitting on the ground with none of their usual dramatics.

Slowly, Haruhi uncurled from her balled up position. Turning around, she remained sitting in Mori’s lap with her back pressed firmly against his chest. Her face was tear streaked and her eyes red-rimmed. Lifting a hand, Haruhi rubbed at her face, trying to dry off the tears that were still clinging to her cheeks.

“Haruhi,” Kyoya started, his voice gentler than anyone had ever heard it, “ Do you mind telling us why you had such a bad reaction to what happened?” Seeing the fear making a reappearance on Haruhi’s face, Kyoya rushed to reassure her, “I promise that none of us will say anything about it or tell anyone.” Kyoya glared at each of the males, his gaze promising dire things to anyone who broke that promise.

**~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_TRIGGER START~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_**  
Sniffling, Haruhi locked eyes with Kyoya. Haltingly, she started to speak. “As you know, my appearance is fairly… androgynous for lack of a better word. Just like all of you did when were first met, except for Kyoya, many people mistake me for a boy depending on my clothes. Most of the time… I don’t care because it has no effect on me. But about a month before school started, a woman attacked me. She thought that I was a boy dressing up as a girl, when I was wearing a dress, and in her words, I was a ‘disgusting abomination that shouldn’t be allowed around normal people’. She had long red hair just like Ayanokoji-sama and she was wearing a yellow dress. She sat on me just like Ayanokoji did and started to rip my clothes off, hitting me at the same time.” Haruhi took in a shuddering breath, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. Swiping her hand across her eyes, Haruhi continued her tale. “The whole time she just kept yelling at me. It was only when she got to my chest and saw my bra that she stopped. Soon after the police came and arrested her. She’s in jail now for 7 more months and had to pay a fine of ¥30,000.” Haruhi buried her face back in Mori’s chest, seeking nothing but darkness to escape the dark thoughts racing around in her mind.  
**~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_TRIGGER END~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_~-_**

Kyoya’s face was cold and lined with fury. Exchanging looks with the other members of the host club, they came to a silent agreement. Kyoya flipped open his phone at the same time as Honey and both of them started to tap out a message to someone. Kyoya finished first, sending his message to the leader of the Black Onion Squad. Seconds later, Honey finished sending his message to all the people that are current or were former students of any Haninozuka dojo. Kyoya’s message was more sinister, ordering the members to find out who committed the assault and to utterly ruin her. Honey’s message included a picture of Haruhi and the order that if any saw her in any danger to protect her.

Tamaki quickly decided that he had to lighten the mood after the depressing news that Haruhi shared. Plastering a kingly smile on his face, Tamaki said excitedly, “I think for the next week, we should dress-up. We can do a history week and each of us can teach about whoever we dress up as! I could be King George the First!”

“We can be Oshin and Alinakh of Armenia! A king and prince outrank you, Tamaki!” The twins chimed in, recognizing what Tamaki was trying to do. 

A weak chuckle came from Haruhi. Mori lifting a hand to stroke her hair

“I can be Napoleon!” Honey chirped, “He liked eating cake right?”

Snapping his phone shut with a click, Kyoya pushed his glasses back up his nose with two fingers. “Haruhi, the woman who assaulted you is on all the watch lists for my family’s private police force. The second she puts a toe out of line when she’s back on the street, they’ll have her back in prison for a long time.”

Turning her head to look at Kyoya, Haruhi surveyed him. When she realized that he was telling the truth, Haruhi let out a loud wail and hurled herself at Kyoya. He staggered back when Haruhi collided with his chest and wrapped her arms around him. Eyes wide with shock, Kyoya ran a hand up and down Haruhi’s back to comfort her, while Haruhi was whispering ‘thank you’ to him.

Soon, Haruhi pulled herself off of Kyoya, wiping the tears off her face. “Thank you, all of you for-” At a loss for words, Haruhi just gave them all a teary smile and opened her arms, indicating a willingness for them to give her hugs.

Honey launched himself first, cuddling up to Haruhi with Usa-chan in his grip. Hikaru and Kaoru were next, they bracketed Haruhi, one on each side, each resting their chins on her shoulders. Tamaki was next, barrelling in and wrapping himself around Haruhi like an octopus from the back. Mori just rested a hand on her hand. Kyoya stood apart from them, watching them with fondness in his eyes.

“I guess it’s true. We’re kind of a patchwork family!” Haruhi laughed, sniffing quietly. “I’m so glad that I met all of you!”

_Oftentimes, it is the small and unassuming objects that make a difference. A pair of glasses brought Haruhi into the Host Club family and a tie clip cemented all of their relationships together._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If I made any mistakes with grammar/formatting/spelling/whatever, please feel free to tell me. 
> 
> I hope that the discussion of the assault didn't trigger anyone and that I handled it appropriately.


End file.
